Busy in the Studio

Working in a university Art and Design department has many, many perks. So I really can't complain. But one thing we do have to deal with is lots of office work, for me that translates into position search committees, six for me this year, designing a new course for on-line, and a bunch of normal stuff like annual evaluations and never mind teaching, and I am also the library liaison, responsible for making sure we spend all of our library allocations. 

In additional to all the above stuff I also must (it's part of my contract) continue to be creatively active, have shows, make work, etc. I wanted to make this a bit easier for me this year, I knew it was going to be a mind numbing semester and decided during the Christmas break I would clean out my office and carve out some space for working in clay. I normally do this at my home studio but getting green-ware into my truck and over to the studio to fire is a nightmare (especially since I got rid of my electric kiln). My office isn't big, but I manage pretty well. Classes started on January 17 and I have spent every spare hour working on my sculpture. Some of these pieces will act as models for larger stuff, some of them are for an exhibition, but all of them are working out ideas I have had rattling around in my head for some time now. Eight of them are bisque fired, two of three I did this weekend are still wet and I have a bit of cleaning up to do before they can dry completly. There are both "ships" and "homes". The smallest ones are about 6 inches tall/wide with the largest boat coming in at over 24" long. I will be testing some glazes and other finishes soon, so hopefully in a month or so I'll have finished works to show you. Here are some images of the work in progress.

Packing it All Up

Oh what fun! Not! But I did get some help for the day, one of my more enthusiastic students, Grace K. came and worked with me packing up all the artwork. So much easier when you have extra hands, especially since some of the works are awkward to handle. We got everything done and now I will finish up with a few pages of installation instructions. USArt will be here with their truck on Wednesday to pick up the work. It will be nice to get my living room back.

My flight reservations are confirmed and I will be in Moscow, Idaho on Monday, February 20th afternoon until late morning on Thursday, February 23. I am very excited, it's always fun to visit new places and be a part of local art communities.

Lots of Boats, mostly wood, some steel

Cast iron Greenland style paddles, very heavy

Oops!

Shipping Work

Next week USArt will be here to pick up my sculptures heading out to Idaho. This is the first time I am dealing with pro art shippers. Usually I am the one responsible for shipping and I build a crate and send it off via my FedEx account. So far I have never had any issues with them. But this time the gallery decided to pay for all shipping. Good thing as the works they wanted are to big and heavy and there is no way I could have afforded that expenditure.

 It's pretty exciting when a gallery really wants specific works and is willing to spend thousands to ship it. It is a bit of an ego booster I will admit. The pieces going include eight 96" long boats and eight cast iron paddles weighing some 45 pounds a piece as well as a few other steel pieces and a cast iron house. Apparently the shippers have what is called a courier service that allows for work to be soft packed, so no crates. Phew, that is a relief. However I do need to soft pack very carefully. After a search of local businesses I was able to find Newell Paper and can get a 4' x 250' roll of corrugated cardboard and 4' x 250' roll of bubble wrap for decent prices. I never use packing tape as it totally destroys plastic and bubble wrap. I use that shrink wrap stuff that comes on a roll ready to use. I will make sure I include some with the art works so the gallery has no excuse to use tape when shipping back.

Fresh painted "boats" ready for packing and shipping to Idaho.

Packaging materials are a big expense that many artists just swallow when doing shows, No one realizes that it can cost hundreds of dollars to get work ready to ship. Nothing is worse than getting your work back only to find that every square inch of it is covered in packing tape. Evil stuff! This happened with my last show. I had to throw away almost all of my bubble wrap. This time I will make a special note and even speak personally with the gallery staff about not using tape. I don't think this will be a problem though, so far Roger Rowley, the Pritchard Art Gallery director has been super professional and very helpful. It has been an excellent experience working with them so far.


Next week will be packing week and then the expected pick-up date will be Feb 7-8. All the work has been freshly painted and oiled and is ready to go. As it turns out I probably will be able to go to the opening on February 22 and even get there a few days early to do some grad studio visits and see the area. I am very excited as I hear that part of Idaho is extremely beautiful.

Exhibition Up-Date

It's been a busy few months! I can't believe I have not posted in so long but alas the life of a busy artist and teacher can get in the way!


Right now I am getting ready for an exhibition at the Prichard Gallery at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. Here is an early gallery announcement-

February 22 – April 7, 2012Reception: Wednesday February 22, 5-8pm
Uncommon Rivers
Gail Seigel Exhibit Curator
Gail Seigel is the Prichard’s immediate past director and curator of “Uncommon River.” Work by artists Christine Destrempes, Christo & Jeane-Claude, Raymond Ghirardo & Megan Roberts, Philip Govedare, and Jen Torres are included. They explore the concept of rivers from a variety of perspectives. Rivers touch all lives directly or indirectly, but particularly so in the Pacific Northwest and Idaho where agriculture, industry, commerce, energy, recreation, tourism, transportation and countless jobs depend on rivers and where rivers are central to public policy debates on water rights, endangered species and wilderness preservation.

Honestly I did not know I was in a show with Cristo and his late wife Jeane-Claude until I read the announcement, very exciting! We are still working out what sculptures will be in the show and the gallery will ship the works in February. I still don't know if I can make it for the opening, it would be nice but it is a very busy time of the year for me and funds are tight.


I'll keep you all up-dated on how things go with the show.

Grand Opening (X2)!

First was the Grand Art Garden Gala and two days later the Town Creek Arts Festival, all to celebrate the Art garden and the artists whose work was installed. What an amazing couple of days!

Sculpture Installation

On the Thursday, September 1st, just before tropical storm Lee hit my friend James and I installed the Garden Boats on site at the Art Garden at the Mississippi Museum of Art. It was sunny and probably 110F during most of the install. We got there at 10:00 AM and started working.

James and at the site. Photo: Julian Rankin

Photo: Julian Rankin

Photo: Julian Rankin

Photo: Julian Rankin

Of course I was worried that something would go wrong but everything went like clock work and by 2:00 PM we were done. Of course I spent the rest of the weekend stressing out that the tropical storm was going to wreck the Garden and my sculptures but everything made it through just fine.


I have gotten some amazing feedback and people are really responding positively to the works, and the Garden is not even officially open yet. Sherry Lucas from the Clarion Ledger came by and did a great article for the newspaper, the print version came out in Friday's paper, real nice. Here's a link to the on-line version of the story.


The grand opening celebration, Town Creek Arts Festival, will be from 10:00 to 10:00 on Saturday October 1. It promises to be a super fun filled day with music, arts and entertainment, and food and beer too! Admission is free, I plan being there for the whole day. I know lots of friends are making plans to drive up from Hattiesburg and join in the festivities as well. It promises to be a very fun event!

Done!

Finally after nearly a year of planning, design, and fabrication the Garden Boats outdoor sculpture installation is complete. The only thing left to do is to install the works.


I have heard from the Museum that it could be any day now. How exciting that this could happen so soon!

Nine poles...

and nine "boats", ready for installation in the Art Garden.